It is common practice nowadays to have swimming pools covered to prevent debris from entering the pool. Pool covers provide convenience for a user by allowing the cover to be easily extended over the pool during periods of non-use, and retracted during periods of use. In many cases swimming pools are located in gardens and near trees. This requires the pool owner or an attendant to manually skim floating debris out from the pool. These pool covers, when reeled-out or extracted to cover the pool water surface provide an excellent preventative measure against penetration of debris, such as twigs, leaves, dirt and the like into the pool with the ensuing accumulation and rotting or degradation of said debris inside the swimming pool.
Such pool covers are also used to preserve chemical materials which were added into the water in order to treat the water, in persevering preset, user convenient temperatures of pool water in the cases where electrical or solar water heaters or coolers are being used, prevention of water evaporation especially in areas where the scarcity or costs of water are prohibitive. Another paramount feature is the safety aspect, more particularly the drowning prevention which is attributed to a pool safety cover.
There are a variety of types of pool covers available on the market. Pool covers can be held above the pool water surface, for example: large low lying overhang constructions which from a removable roof over the pool or tarpaulin type/continuous sheets of flexible reinforced cover materials or made up of a construction of sturdy rigid materials which can be either manually or automatically spread/rolled or reeled out or rolled or reeled-in from the top of the pool to respectively, cover or uncover the entire swimming pool.
Pool covers can also be of a buoyant type which float on the water surface. The floatability or buoyancy are achieved by either means of the multitude of very sturdy and durable sealed rigid and hollow slats which are connected one to the other to form a flat surface or a continuous sheet of flexible reinforced material which is firmly attached to a roller which can be turned by a crank or wheel to roll or unroll the cover.
The covering and uncovering (or roll-out or roll-in) can be performed by firmly attaching an edge of the roller to a roller or drum. The roller/drum can be either turned by a crank or wheel to roll or unroll the pool cover (especially for the softer, lighter and flexible type pool covers) or be operated by means energy driven motors governed by electronic control systems (usually the hard, rigid and heavier pool cover types).
Each of said rigid slats or flexible cover materials form a singular independent float and when the sheet or all the slats are connected together the entire cover becomes one interlocked floating raft or one large floating blanket type cover. As discussed above, the cover is normally rolled and secured into a coil on a shaft or a drum which is extended between any of the sides or walls of the swimming pool.
The cover is deployed by activation or the turning of the crank of the said shaft by energy input, such as but not only an electrical motor, which is capable of turning the shaft in a clockwise or an anti clockwise direction in relation to its rotational axis planes to the pool surface. The movements would be in either the direction to or from the opposing pool side or pool wall and thereby causing the pool cover to move and floatingly slide or roll-out the pool cover all the way to the opposing wall. Thereby, the entire surface of the pool becomes covered. The roll-in operation or the opening of the said pool cover, and the exposing of the water surface, is performed in the opposite fashion. Such cover systems are suited to cover practically any shape of pool: rectangular, round, kidney shape or free style.
In all cases some type of securing the reeled-out cover into place are necessary. These may include anchor straps extending beyond the cover edges for attachment to the surrounding pool decking. Especially important is the front, or leading edge slat, which leads and guides the multitude of slats of the cover as it traverses the pool and would be the first slat to meet the opposite wall.
The said leading edge slat extends the width of the pool and is attached to the leading edge of the cover. A strap or another locking/attaching/securing mechanism would therefore be attached to said leading slat/edge for the purpose of securing the pool cover. Care should be taken to construct and assemble said leading slat in such a way that in the event of a reel-out that upon contacting the water surface said slat does not bow downward during extraction and turns over itself. The built of the leading edge is such that it will include a float and the edge of the slat will be inclined to a forward movement upon making contact with the water surface.
As mentioned above, a main purpose and objective of a pool cover is to offer preventative measures against the penetration of debris into the pool water thereby causing the debris to rot inside or at the bottom of the pool. Moreover, whilst the pool is being used by the swimmers, the cover is in a retracted position i.e.: it is reeled-in and rolled upon the main shaft or drum. During such time the pool is unprotected against the elements and debris and leaves continuously penetrate the pool water and annoyingly float upon the water surface.
Furthermore, when the pool cover is being extracted or reeled-out to close the pool, then the movement of the cover towards the opposite wall pushes, collects and concentrates all the floating debris and dirt forward. This phenomenon can bring about problematic accumulation of dirt and debris at the meeting area between the advancing cover and the opposite incoming wall which can cause tremendous difficulties in fully closing or locking the cover against the opposite wall. Worse, debris and dirt can sometimes penetrate underneath a cover and remain entrapped between the cover and the water to eventually rot, disintegrate and sink to the swimming pool bottom floor.
The only known preventions of this phenomenon would be for the pool owner or an attendant to either manually use a leaf rake which is attached to a rigid or telescopic pole or to use a leaf skimmer or by means of literally getting on his or her hands and knees and attempt to manually clean and clear out the accumulated debris and dirt so that the cover can fully close.